Can handling apparatus



April 12, 1932. R. c. sNEED .v 1,853,383

CAN HANDLING APPARATUS Filed oct. 2s, 1929 TORNEYS.

Patented pr. 12,1932

UNHTED STATES PATENT OFFICE f ROBERT C. SNEED, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A *SSIGNOR TO THE NESTLS FOOD CO., INC., 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK CAN HANDLING APPARATUS Application filed October 23, 1929. Serial No. 401,668.

My present invention relates to can handling apparatus and more particularly to a device for handling empty cans at the canning plant, as when unloading a shipment 5 from a freight car.

An object of my invention is to provide a new, novel and efficient apparatus for handling cansin large quantities.

A further object of my invention is to prow vide an apparatus which is particularly well suited for use in conjunction with the present and extensively used so-calledV unloading forks.

In carrying out my invention, I propose to "l5 provide a relatively shallow, vertically disposed open-sided hopper, into which the cans may be placed in pyramidal fashion and conveniently deposited therein with a can handling fork, the hopper being provided 3 with suitable means for discharging the cans in a uniform manner therefrom.

For a better understanding of kmy invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings, wherein I have shown by r way of illustration and not of limitation, a

preferred embodiment thereof.

In the drawings- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my improved apparatus showing a plurality of cans de- -5 posited therein,

Fig. 2 is a view in elevation taken along line II-II of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, perspective view of a can handling fork of the type contemplated for use with my invention. -V

In Fig. 1, 10 designates a vertically disposed housing member'.V The housing member 10 contains various can manipulating devices and a driving means which will be referred to hereinafter and is carried'upon suitable supporting legs 11 which are adjustable to provide for a leveling or tilting of the apparatus, as will hereinafter appear. At-

tached to the vertical edge of the housing 10, which is open, there is shown an open-sided hopper member 12 which may be readily attached to the housing member 1() by means of 5?' suitable hooks 13 and 14. It will be noted that the hooks 13 and 14 are provided on each end of the hopper member 12. This is'so that this element may be reversed so as to provide a right or left hand opening in the hopper 12 with respect to the housing 10. At vthe outer end of the hopper member 12, there is shown a pair of adjustable legs 15, by means of which this end of the hopper 12 is suitably supported. The bottom of the hopper. 12is shown as slightly inclined so that the cans, designated by the numeral 16, will have a tendency to roll toward and into the housing member 10.

The housing member 10 is shown as having an outlet 17 through which the cans 16 may be discharged in a uniform manner, and ex-y tending between the outlet 17 and the bottom of thehopper 12 there is shown aconveyor belty 18 which serves to carry the cans 16 tof ward the outlet 17. This conveyor 18 is driven bymeans of suitable belts 19 and 20,- by means of a motor 21.1 A further belt 22 is shown as driving a second conveyor or can engaging belt 23 which serves to dislodge the cans from'the .upper layers and cause them to assume their position in the lower layer as the cans are discharged. A relatively stationary roller or buffer 24 also vco-operates with the belt 23 to alignthecansin a single layer and thus facilitate a rapid discharge ofthe cans, one at a time, from the relatively largepile contained in the hopper 12. n i n By referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, it willfbe seen that the `housing 10 and the hopper member 12 are inclined froml the verticalV at a slight angle. The reason for this is to insure that the cans will not lfall out of thehopperl when they are piled several layers high. The

inclination of the housing 10 and the hopper 12 can of course, be determined bythe requirements of the particular location, as theV legs 11 and 15 are made fully adjustable so that the complete apparatusmay be 'disposed at any angle desired. When' thev housing member 12 is reversed with respect tov the member `10, as'suggested above, it will be understood that the legs `11 and 15 will Abe. again adjusted so as to incline the apparatus away from the open side of the hopper 12.

At the present time in the shipment `of empty cans for canneries, it is customary to completely fill a freight car With cans piled loosely from the floor to the Ceiling and at the unloading point the unloader, after providing himself with a so-called unloading fork of the type illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings, engages the first layer of` piled cans in much the same fashion as he Would handle la fork-load of hay. The cans thus disposed upon. the forli areV then placed. Within. the hopper 12 andthe operator returns for a see'- ond fork-load of cans. Prior to the advent of my invention, an operator Could handleV from 11,000 to 12,000 cans per hour by using the above described fork andv depositing the cans upon a suitable conveyor, Where he would, after laying down the forli, have to rearrange the cans by hand. With my improved apparatus, it has beenV found that a single operator can handle from 20,000 to 25,000 cans per hour. ithmy improved apparatus, the operator need only discharge the contents'of the fork into the hopper-12 and the apparatus Will then, by reason of the conveyor 18 and belt 23,rearrange the cansl and discharge them one at a time Without any further attention upon the part of the unloader. Y

In order that the cans may be readily deposi'te'd; from the fork designated by the numeral 25, I' have provided in the front face of the-,housing a horizontally disposed slit 264 through which the tines of the fork `may be moved, as WhenV depositing the` y cans upon thehopper 112. The operator, after placingfhi's fork With the load of cans in this positiommay then Withdraw the forli and the front of the housing 10 will thus hold: the cans upon the conveyor and atthe same time the cansadjacent the'open face of the hopper 12 will'i be heldin place Within the hopper by reason of their engagement with the other cans ofthe pile. l Y While I have, for the vsalte of clea'rne'ssand y in order to disolosefmy invention so that the same can be readily understood,'described` andillustratedv specific devicesand arrangements, Idesire tohave it understoodthat this invention is not limited to the specific means disclosed but may be embodied in other Ways that will suggest themselves, in vievv of this broad' disclosure, to persons skillediin the art. A,It isbelieved that this invention is new discharge outlet for the cans at one end of said housing through Which the cans may be discharged, a moving conveyor extending partially into said housing along the bottom thereof and from said discharge outlet, and an overhanging cover extending partially along the front side of said housing adjacent said conveyor adapt-ed to holdthe-cans in position as they are moved by the conveyor, said overhanging cover having a. horizontally disV posedrslit extending thereinto from the feed opening of'said housing adapted to co-operatel With a can carrying fork to facilitate a removal of the cans from the fork into the housing.

ROBERT C. SNEED.

f andit is desired to claim it as such so ,that

all such changes as come Within the scopevofk the appended rclaim are to be consideredas part of this invention. Y

,Having thus described my invention, what I'claim and desire to secure by Letters Pate Inxan apparatus for handling cans, the com.- bination of avertically disposed housing havinganopening extending substantially along` all of one side through which, the canstobe handledlmay b e placed inthe housing; and. a 

